British tourist pleads guilty to killing a man while drunk driving an e-scooter in Australia
Alicia Kemp, 25, admitted the charge during a hearing at the Western Australia Magistrate's Court, officials told The Associated Press. Kemp was riding an e-scooter with a passenger on board in the city of Perth on May 31 when she hit a 51-year-old man, Australian news outlets reported.
Thanh Phan hit his head on the pavement and later died in a hospital. Kemp and the scooter's passenger received minor injuries.
Kemp was visiting Western Australia state from Britain on a working holiday visa, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Investigators estimated she was driving at about the maximum speed of a rental e-scooter, 20 to 25 kph (12 to 16 mph), when she crashed into Phan, the court was told at an earlier hearing.
A charge of causing harm to the passenger was dropped when Kemp made the appearance via video link from jail on Monday. She was earlier refused bail.
Mike Tudori, Kemp's lawyer, told reporters outside the court that his client was 'nervous and worried' as 'a young foreign national girl' in an Australian jail.
'She's obviously done something stupid at the time,' he said, according to Australian Associated Press. 'She obviously wasn't thinking, level-headed and there's consequences, and she just wants to get on with her life.'
Phan's family described him as a 'beloved husband, father of two, brother and dear friend,' according to the AAP.
Kemp will remain in custody until her next court appearance on Oct. 31, when a sentencing date will be set. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Officials in Perth suspended e-scooter rental in the city after Phan's death, which was the fifth involving e-vehicles in the state in 2025. The state's government also launched an inquiry into the vehicles.
Melbourne, in Victoria state, was in 2024 the first Australian city to ban e-scooter hire. The move echoed prohibitions in some other cities worldwide, including Paris, France, where a ban was overwhelmingly approved in April 2023.
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